Maple Leaves Before And After Cataract Surgery
Because the lighting in this drawing is so extreme, it shifts from very light to extremely dark, I often have to use my clip-on book light instead of my overhead light to see and draw the details in the darker leaves. Additionally, some of the dark areas were too dark to trace, so I spent a lot of time drawing those sections as I went along.
I went to get a new pair of glasses and was told I have cataracts and need to have them removed! Everyone I’ve mentioned this to has told me not to worry, that they know someone who has had cataract surgery and can see just fine now. I’m still worried. My worry has affected this drawing. I feel as though it might be my last drawing using my current technique, and that’s depressing.
I’ve mentioned a few times how I work. I take off my glasses and work a few inches from the paper when I draw. I don’t think the new lenses that will be put in my eyes will let me see that close, and I think I’ll have to use a magnifying glass to do that again. I’m not sure if that will work for me, so I feel depressed.
Today, I worked on a couple of small light leaves. Their detail was challenging to draw because I had to mostly erase it from the hatching and redraw it from the erased smudge. Ugh – not my favorite technique, but sometimes the only way to draw details that are both tiny and indistinct.
After browsing magnifying glasses on Amazon, I’m glad to say I think I’ll be able to wear a pair and use them to look at my reference and my drawing. I especially liked a pair with an LED light in front. I believe that might work, so I’m finally feeling hopeful about the cataract surgery.
Next, I focused on the dark leaf in the corner. I haven’t yet added the subtle shading it needs, so I plan to revisit it tomorrow. Since I usually work for about an hour and a half at a time, my progress is slow, but I work diligently and take small, intentional steps.
I’m drawing a mid-tone dark leaf with a sharp HB pencil. After shading around the tiny veins that run through it, I smooth the hatch marks by using a sharp H pencil to fill in all the missed spots in the paper grain that the HB skipped. Then, I darken the veins by lightly going over them with the 4H pencil.
The veins in these leaves seemed difficult to draw, but they aren’t. I outline them, shade around them, make them thinner, and add some value with a 2H or 4H pencil if needed.
Today I evaluated the drawing’s progress and saw that I hadn’t captured the full range of values in the reference photo. In particular, I wasn’t able to capture the bright highlights. I think this is because my paper is not bright white, and because my drawing skills are not good enough to mimic those highlights. I’m disappointed, but I’ll carry on.
The process of hatching most leaves involves keeping a consistent value between the veins. I begin by lightly sketching the veins, then select a pencil that provides the correct value for the rest of the leaf. Next, I apply hatching with short, directional strokes, and finally, I refine the hatch, fixing any missed spots or adding darker areas. Lastly, I touch up the veins, which usually need to be thinned and have their value adjusted.
These leaves lack much dimension. In other words, they are flat. Therefore, I must carefully capture any subtle undulations of their form. A slight shadow and highlight become very important because they indicate how a leaf arcs back into space or moves forward through the plane of the paper.
I’m not lying too much about these leaves. The dark leaves produce the most fibbing because I have a hard time seeing them. Even with the overhead light off, some of the darkest areas remain a mystery. In those places, I engage in creative fibbing, or drawing to fill in the holes in my ‘story.’
The dark leaves give me trouble in other ways, too. I tend to draw them too lightly, and fixing a leaf that’s too light usually means hatching over it, which destroys the detail I just added. This can be frustrating. The solution is to get the value right from the start, of course. But since I’m working from a backlit photo, getting the value right often feels like guesswork. I have a value scale, but it’s useless in the very dark areas of the screen on my iPad where my photo is.
The best way to draw very dark leaves is to first outline the details you want to include, then carefully shade around the highlights. Sometimes, you need to build up the shading gradually until the value looks right in that area.
Today I worked on a group of light leaves. The delicate veins of the leaves, which are lighter than the main body, are challenging to shade around. I’m not including all of these tiny veins because they are such a hassle. I hope I’m drawing enough of them to make the leaves look realistic.
I took a month off drawing to have cataract surgeries on both eyes, and let me just say WOW! I can see so clearly now!! The paper is so bright, and it’s white. I thought it was slightly yellow, but no, my aging eyes were giving it a color cast. And details are crisper, closer up, and even farther away, so I don’t have to use magnifying glasses or stay in one position to see because I have a wider range of vision. I’m happy to say that drawing is less tiring now, and I can work for longer periods.
The first thing I do when drawing leaves is sketch their outline with inner details added. I draw lightly during this stage so that the lines will blend with the hatching I’ll add later. I like to include a lot of detail at this point, focusing on angles, curves, and proportions.
As I start to add value to my line drawing, my eyes constantly shift between the drawing and the reference photo, comparing the hatch I’m applying to reality. Using the right pencil hardness to match the value you want to imitate makes a big difference and takes some practice. Generally, you should use a pencil that produces the desired values with gentle pressure in one or two layers.
Using a sharp 2H pencil, I created the very thin vein lines. Then I shaded the leaf around them with the same pencil. I always draw veins somewhat thickly at first, then I make them thinner as I add value to the leaf. I find that’s easier than trying to draw tiny veins right away.
The small details were made with a small eraser I had cut into a point, an electric eraser I’d spun into a fine point, and a sharp 2H pencil. The details aren’t exact, but they look like leaves from a distance, so I think I’m close enough.
I think I’ve darkened the light areas a bit too much, but I’ll leave it as is for now. I kept the dark outlines around the leaves because there will be a dark background, so there’s no need to erase them—they’ll be covered anyway and save me some work!
Now that my cataract surgeries are complete, I’m reviewing my drawing and refining details. The finer points are clearer, and I’m more patient with drawing since I’m not struggling with my eyesight. What’s strange is that I knew I needed new glasses, but I thought my close-up vision without glasses was perfect, even though I couldn’t draw very long without some eye strain. Silly me, how wrong I was.
The brightest highlights in the upper left of the drawing have caught my attention. They need work. I’m using my electric eraser, which I’ve spun around on the paper to sharpen into a point, to buzz them out. Then I reshape them with a sharp 2H pencil. They’re giving me trouble. I’ve been working on them for 2 hours, and the highlights only vaguely resemble those in the photo. They are so tiny and close together that they’re hard to place and shape, so I’ll have to settle for ‘good enough’ at this point. After I finish here, I’ll need to give some attention to the same type of highlights in the bottom-right quarter of the drawing to balance the composition.
In the upper left corner, I had to do a major redrawing of the line drawing. The tracings I make aren’t exact. They generally place the shapes where they belong and give me clues about what the shapes should look like, most of the time. However, I end up redrawing them 50% of the time. Overall, they still save time.
A word or two about leaf veins. I draw them too large and then whittle them down to size as I shade the leaf around them. They are usually lighter than the leaf, so that scheme works pretty well. After the leaf is brought to its true value, I then add value to the veins. A stick eraser that’s been cut into a wedge shape is handy for lifting out mistakes or redefining lost veins.
Veins, veins, veins! During my three-hour drawing session starting the new quarter today, I spent two hours redrawing veins from the previous quarter. When I’m ready to move on to a new quarter, I become overly critical of the one I just finished. I noticed lots of wonky veins—veins that stood out too much, that were too thick, that still had their outlines visible, or that just weren’t drawn very well. After the vein frenzy, I could move on with a clear conscience.
I’m used to drawing Redbud leaves with their simple shapes and uncomplicated surfaces! These maple leaves have much more detail. The first part of each drawing session, when my eyes are still fresh, is spent removing outlines that show through the shading and smoothing rough shading. I don’t have to do this when drawing big, round Redbud leaves.
I chose maple leaves as my subject this time because my yard went through a major pruning last summer, leaving subjects scarce. I’m planning on visiting our local arboretum and plant place for future inspiration.
Today, I darkened a leaf on the right border to make the middle light leaves stand out more on that side. It worked, to my relief. I also decided to add some dark holes to that leaf, since the leaf above it already has holes. Distributing holes around the leaves on the right-hand side creates a better composition than just having three or four in one leaf, as in the photo.
I like this drawing, but the light leaves running through the center could be brighter. This probably would have been best resolved by drawing the leaves around them darker. However, I’ve spent enough time on this drawing. It’s time to move on!
Happy Drawing Everyone,
Carol
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